Loss prevention through education
Title insurance companies lose hundreds of thousands of dollars annually due to mishandled escrow funds. We believe that education helps reduce the losses associated with mishandling escrow funds. We teach classes highlighting both ALTA best practices, state bar requirements, and some of the main issues that title insurance agents face on a daily basis. Specific examples and case studies from our decade of experience keep the classes interesting.
Loss prevention through support
Many title insurance agents operate as a solo or small firm with little to no outside support. Our experienced team gives title insurance agents an available resource they can contact with questions about handling funds and managing escrow accounts.
Escrow Account Audits
Our experienced team brings over a decade and 2,000 audits of experience to every audit. We provide support to our partners by auditing escrow accounts at the request of the agent or title insurance company.
In most cases, an independent audit provides insight into transactions that are unseen by the agent and staff that handle transactions regularly. An independent audit spots minor issues that are not consistent with best practices. These are often the issues that develop into a major problem when volume increases.
We review the bank statements, individual transaction files, the account register, individual ledgers, outstanding checks and deposits, and the three-way reconciliation report for compliance with both ALTA best practices and the rules of professional conduct for lawyers.
Our audit reports list areas of non-compliance, outstanding transactions, inconsistencies in the records, adjusting transactions, and areas of concern as well as providing suggestions for handling future transactions.
We do both remote and on site audits. Follow the link below to contact us.
Office Procedures Audits
Our experienced team can provide support by auditing an agent's office procedures.
An independent audit of office procedures is, in many ways, a back to basics fundamental approach. Often an audit provides insight into office procedures that have become second nature to everyone involved. Many times these procedures started as a rare exception that was necessary for a single transaction that evolved into a manual work around. The manual work around, repeated enough times, became second nature to the agent and staff that handle transactions regularly. An independent audit often spots these manual work arounds that are not consistent with best practices before they lead to a problem.
We interview the agent and employees to map out the current process for every step from handling a transaction to the monthly account reconciliation to handling disputes that arise later.
Our audit reports list procedures that are good as well as areas of concern. In addition suggestions to streamline office procedures for compliance with best practices and efficiency, prevent errors, and strengthen security.
